Revised recommendations from 11 more task forces

May 16, 2006

Revised recommendations from 11 more strategic positioning task
forces formed as part of the University of Minnesota's ongoing
initiative to transform the U into one of the top three public
research universities in the world are now available for review on
the Transforming
the U Web site.

"The University community has been actively engaged in strategic
positioning throughout the past year and a half," says Tom
Sullivan, senior vice president for academic affairs and provost.
"The breadth and depth of ongoing participation has been
invaluable, and our faculty, staff and students are to be commended
for their commitment to this process. Now we can build on this
highly consultative process and identify key initiatives that will
propel the University forward."

The revised recommendations range from what metrics the
University should use for determining how it measures progress
toward becoming a top three university to what steps it can take to
improve its research infrastructure to support the scholarly work
that is conducted at the U.

The submission of these revised recommendations brings to 34 the
number of task force reports that have been submitted since last
September as part of the strategic positioning initiative.
(Recommendations from the Crookston, Duluth, and Morris campuses
and Rochester center will be posted in the near future.)

The University's senior leadership has begun implementing
recommendations and will continue to evaluate them. Priorities and
timelines for initiatives will be announced in early fall to the
Board of Regents and the University community. A brief review of
the revised recommendations appears below.

Academic Health Center task forces

Four task forces were created and charged with making
recommendations on a wide range of issues to further improve the
University's Academic Health Center.

Clinical Sciences Enterprise The clinical sciences are
the cornerstone of the educational and research missions of the
Academic Health Center, supporting the education of the next
generation of health professionals. Task force revised
recommendations include the following:

Support for a culture of demonstrated excellence in innovative
clinical care delivery, including patient-centered care with an
emphasis on interprofessional teams, application of evidence based
decision-making, and outcomes measurement and reporting.

Development of educational programs that prepare students for a
career of innovative health care delivery.

Vibrant clinical research that advances knowledge and its
application in all parts of the clinical science continuum from lab
bench to the bedside.

Access to integrated information systems that connect all areas
of the clinical sciences to facilitate clinical research, education
and care delivery where outcomes are always measured.

Facilities that support state of the art care delivery,
research and education, including interprofessional teams and
access to cutting-edge technology.

Development of a unifying model for faculty that tracks across
the Academic Health Center and equally values the three components
of clinical sciences, clinical research, education and care
delivery.

The shifting demands of the marketplace for health professionals
require the University to develop greater flexibility to respond to
workforce needs. This shifting demand, joined by increasing costs
of and decreasing public investment in health professional
education, and a shift to community based education partnerships,
requires a clear understanding of the current financial models for
health professional education. The following revised
recommendations identify the task force direction:

Develop an appointment process for community-based faculty, as
well as an infrastructure to support health professions education,
with appropriate faculty rewards and recognition for participating
in community-based activities, engage organizational leaders in the
development of community partnerships, and engage additional
state-wide partners, as appropriate.

Create an ongoing tracking mechanism to monitor educational
expenses and revenues across the AHC, charge a planning group to
research scholarship opportunities to maximize financial aid
options for AHC students, and develop a plan to address
contingencies of a fragile funding structure.

Engage internal and external stakeholders for ongoing
discussions about the future of health care and health professions
education and to assist the AHC in transforming health professions
education to meet the changing needs of the health care
system.

Health professional education is undergoing a profound
transformation driven by the explosion of new information and new
knowledge that affects both the education of our students and the
practice of our graduates. This task force developed a system to
manage this knowledge explosion and to ensure that students,
faculty, and staff practice lifelong and continuous learning. The
task force produced the following definition and key
recommendations:

Knowledge management is creating, identifying, capturing and
distributing the right knowledge to the right people at the right
time, in the right form, and deploying that information in ways
that improve individual and community health.

A knowledge management executive committee (KMEC) should be
established under the AHC assistant vice president for Education to
oversee the design, development, implementation and ongoing
assessment of the knowledge management system. That committee
should be comprised of U of M faculty, staff, and students,
representatives of the Minnesota health service industry and
community, and liaisons to other appropriate U of M technology and
academic units.

The knowledge management system will be implemented AHC-wide
and will be integrated with other U of M enterprise-wide
systems.

An initial step will be to conduct a systematic "gap analysis"
between the knowledge management system needs (expertise,
technology tools and systems, access and connectivity, and
continuous learning and improvement) and current available
resources. The outcome of the gap analysis will be to identify
current assets, identify what additional resources are needed to
fill the gaps, and ensure that the technology tools and systems,
and the expertise are delivered as an integrated system.

Facilities are core to the education, research and clinical care
that defines an academic health center--a fact that is recognized
by states and institutions nationwide. To recruit top faculty, the
best students, and attract patients, the AHC must make significant
investments in its aging facilities. This new planning process
recognizes that the new AHC precinct plan extends beyond a
four-square block area in Minneapolis. The task force revised
recommendations include:

Verify and refine the space projections for AHC programs over
the next five to 15 years.

Incorporate the principles, findings and conclusions of this
report into a new precinct plan--one that encompasses the entire
physical span of the AHC; its multiple missions (education,
research, patient care and service) and its key partners; and
includes potential sites, cost estimates and sequencing of major
projects.

Update the University six-year capital plan to reflect projects
currently underway and identify the next development priorities for
the AHC.

Academic task forces

Four academic task forces are seeking input on their preliminary
recommendations for transforming the College of Liberal Arts, the
science and engineering colleges, discipline evolution, and faculty
culture--the reshaping of academic departments and programs to meet
future needs--in graduate programs. Each task force has developed
specific recommendations in line with the University's overall goal
of becoming one of the top three public research universities in
the world within a decade.

Maintain collegiate and departmental structures in sciences and
engineering.

Partner with the state and private sector to create a science
and technology interdisciplinary research institute.

Strengthen research collaborations among faculty in the
Institute of Technology, College of Biological Sciences and
Academic Health Center with focused investments in three areas:
materials, energy and environmental genomics;

Develop greater interdisciplinary activities, especially among
engineering and medical sciences, through graduate education and
research teams.

Continue efforts to establish and support centralized
multi-user research facilities.

Increase collaborative research and training, especially at the
interface of engineering and biology.

The faculty culture task force has made 36 specific
recommendations, identifying four overall values that must shape
faculty culture to reach the University's goal of becoming a top
three public research university: excellence, collaboration,
academic citizenship and leadership. The recommendations address
recruitment, hiring and retention; faculty review, tenure, and
promotion; better family friendly benefits; research support;
collaboration and intellectual exchange; public engagement; and
peer recognition.

Recommendations from this task force include:

Commit substantial new funds to support faculty compensation
and to provide additional family friendly benefits.

Invest strategically in resources, people and systems that
support faculty scholarship.

Redraft significant portions of the tenure code and alter
current processes and reward systems so that they coincide with its
stated goals and values.

Create effective systems that foster interdisciplinary and
collaborative research and teaching.

Creatively explore new ways to enhance the intellectual climate
on campus.

Research task forces

Two task forces, under the direction of Tim Mulcahy of the
Office of the Vice President for Research, were created and charged
with developing strategies to further improve the University's
research capabilities.

"The work from these task forces has been very insightful and we
look forward to gathering more input from the University community
on how to fine-tune these recommendations," says Mulcahy.
Research Infrastructure

This task force was charged with developing a plan to support
research and scholarship consistent with realization of the
University's goal of becoming one of the top three public research
universities in the world. Using a definition of "infrastructure"
that includes a broad range of facilities and services needed to
support all scholarly activity throughout the University, the task
force reviewed the current state of the University's research
infrastructure. Highlights from the task force recommendations
include the following:

Under the direction of the Office of the Vice President for
Research, appoint two oversight committees, one for research space
and one for research core facilities, to provide input from faculty
members on decisions related to research space and facilities to
ensure that scientific synergy is maximized.

Use a methodology developed by the task force for identifying
University research strengths and funding opportunities.

Organize a focused study in the arts and humanities to identify
high impact opportunities for scholarship.

Pursue funding for major capital investments in the areas of
the University's research strengths.

The Collaborative Research Task Force was charged with creating
a plan to promote research, partnerships and programs to accelerate
the University of Minnesota becoming one of the top three public
research universities in the world. The task force's
recommendations envision the University as one that will be
internationally known for its innovation and excellence in
collaborative research and scholarship. Specific recommendations
include the following:

Form a collaborative research unit that has the authority and
resources to coordinate this activity across the institution.

Enhance the value of collaboration and foster a supportive
culture by changing the reward structure for individuals and
departments.

Identify projects through a process focused on researchers'
creativity and commitment and support these projects with ample
space, staff and resources for an appropriate period of time.

Develop opportunities for researchers to interact and
capitalize on this intellectual energy and synergy.

This task force, led by Al Sullivan, special assistant to the
president, was charged with identifying appropriate measures to
assess the University's performance and its progress toward
achieving the aspirational goal of becoming one of the top three
public research universities in the world within a decade. The task
force was asked to identify ways to measure progress at the
operational level and in collegiate units, coordinate campuses, and
administrative units, as well as University-wide performance
measures. Aligning what is measured across all levels, with
progress toward the aspirational goal, is a key theme throughout
the recommendations.